2009, March 25, The Progress

Tenth Annual Salsa Festival will be hotter than ever

Tenth Annual Salsa Festival will be hotter than ever

Music,
music and more music will be the order of the day as the 10th Annual
Three Rivers Salsa Festival unreels on Saturday, April 4. “In celebration of
our 10th anniversary we have attempted to bring back some old
favorites who have appeared on the Salsa Festival stages in past years and also
bring in some of the best new talent we could find”, said Murrell Foster,
Festival Director.

As
usual, The Tejano Stage (Stage 1) will open with an hour of gospel music
featuring local legend Linda Couk and Johnny Darling. Before the music, there
will be a flag raising by local Girl Scouts and a prayer. Live Oak County Judge
Jim Huff will act as the master of ceremonies.

At 11
a.m. Chris Rybak “the prince of
polka” will take the Country Stage (Stage 2) and demonstrate his accordion and
vocal skills. Rybak is a one man
band and you will see him play several instruments during his set.

At
11:15 a.m. Los Algreas, a seniors conjunto band from Pleasanton will entertain
the crowd gathered around Stage 1. Around noon the feast of country music on
Stage 2 will begin. There will be all kinds of country music including blue
grass, gospel, Western swing and an Elvis entertainer. The blue grass will be
served up by the Ribbon Cane Bluegrass band. Six times national fiddle champ
and Three Rivers favorite, Randy Elmore and his wife from Cleburne, will
entertain the crowd all afternoon. She will sing several Bob Wills hits.

Over
on the Tejano Stage, Elvis impersonator Henry Vasquez, Jr., from Corpus Christi
will wow the audience with his high energy performance of the King´s favorites beginning at 12:30 p.m. Groupo Fusion,
of Beeville, who is rapidly becoming a Salsa Festival featured act, will take
Stage 1 at 1:45 p.m.

On
Stage 2, the country crowd will be hearing Ricky Turpin, Allison Crowson and
Ken Brothers. Ally Coscetti, sensational juvenile performer will appear with
such seasoned entertainers as Tom Teboe and Peter Cane. Rob Carter, the tall
Elvis, will also entertain with his version of some of the King ´s greatest
hits.

At 3
p.m., Vallejo will turn up the volume as they become the first Latin rock act
to play at Salsa Festival. Their five piece band is composed of three Vallejo
brothers and two other musicians. Austin based, Vallejo has toured with
numerous well known entertainers including Los Lonely Boys, the Food Fighters,
Matchbox 20 and Los Lobos.

The
12 piece band, Night Life, from Del Rio will make music on Stage 1 beginning at
4:30 p.m. They feature a driving brass section and have recorded with such
stars as Ruben Ramos and Jimmy Edwards.

Local
favorite Ruben Salazar and his band Groupo Patron, will conclude the evening
beginning at 6 p.m. Groupo Patron is a show band playing a wide variety of
Latin and country music with a few older rock numbers thrown in for good
measure.

When
the music goes silent around 8 p.m., surely Salsa Festival fans will agree the
10 anniversary was a good year for outstanding entertainment.

Photo: Hot
Talent – at left: Karlene Fey of Seguin will perform at the 10th
Annual Salsa Festival on Saturday, April 4 in Three Rivers; at right: Chris Rybak an accordion player will
also perform at the Salsa Festival.